On this day May 27, 1960

In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celal Bayar along with Adnan Menderes and some other government and party members to a military court on the tiny island Yassiada in the Sea of Marmara on June 10 of the same year.

Mahmut Celal Bayar

He and 15 other party members were tried for violating the constitution and sentenced to death by the High Court of Justice on September 15, 1961.

The ruling military committee approved the death sentence for Menderes, Zorlu and Polatkan, but the punishment for Bayar and other 12 party members was commuted to life imprisonment. Bayar was sent to jail in Kayseri, but he was released on November 7, 1964 due to ill health.

Bayar was pardoned in 1966. Full political rights were restored to him in 1974, but he declined an invitation to become a life member of the Senate, on the grounds that one can represent the people only if elected.

He died on August 22, 1986 in Istanbul at the age of 103. He is the longest lived head of state or head of government of any country in history. He was father of three children.

In 1958, the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University Berlin) awarded him an honorary doctorate. Celal Bayar University, which was established in 1992 in Manisa, is named after him.